Met Opera: A Stunning New "Cav/Pag" With Alvarez Shining in Both

April 15, 2015 10:20 PM

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Scorned love can have dire consequences, and when it involves adultery, it can lead to jealous rage and violent death. The Met Opera's striking new production of the twin-bill of Cavelleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, with the tenor Marcelo Alvarez singing the dual roles of cuckolder in the first and cuckold in the latter, restores all the passion and drama to a pair of old operatic warhorses.

The new Met staging by the Scottish director David McVicar and his design team, especially Rae Smith's sets and Moritz Junge's costumes, both making house debuts, takes opera verismo to a new level, especially in the Cavalleria, where a circle of chairs effectively re-creates a Sicilian village, fro...